Perfect Enemy
by The First Sight
Summary: We never can remember the first few years of our lives...
1. Prologue

_**Perfect Enemy**_

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...Prologue...

My fingers gripped his jaw, my nails piercing through his skin. Blood trickled from the wounds at the same time I felt something wet slide over my own face. Was I really...? I wasn't crying. I didn't cry. Ever.

My voice was barely a whisper, but the tone was fierce. "There's a reason you can never find love, Dark... You're always looking in the wrong places!"

His eyes narrowed. "Oh yeah?" he retorted, "And what would _you_ know about that!?"

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. . .


	2. Chapter 1

_**Perfect Enemy**_

...First Part: Krad...

I looked around me, completely mystified. I was overwhelmed with all the things around me. A sound came from somewhere and I scrambled backward, hitting something hard and unmoving. I looked around to figure out the movements, and then, experimentally, I tested some of the movement again. I felt these movements as a part of my being and glanced down to see what my mind somehow registered to be called 'hands'.

New information flooded me, a little at a time, but still fast enough for me to remain so engulfed in wonder.

I flexed my fingers, rotating my hands about in front of me to study them; how far they could rotate willingly and whatever other motions they were capable of. Extending my arms, I gazed at them from a distance for a while, then bent my elbows to draw them back to me.

I felt more tension and movements that I hadn't noticed before. 'Legs' was the information I somehow recognized. 'Feet'.

_My body_, I thought.

It was all new to me. I was awestruck by it.

I touched myself with my hands, exploring this form I had. I felt my fingers on my arms, watching wonderingly as they moved along to my shoulders, scrunching up the sleeves of my shirt into intricate patterns made of the folded, crumpled material. My arms were crossed over each other on my shoulders. It felt odd so I uncrossed them, continuing in my exploration to touch my neck and then my face.

I noted how my nose stuck out from my face and my eyes were sunken into it, and the differences of all the contours. My lips, I found most intriguing. They were loose and had no definite form like the rest of my face. Muscles could pull them into different positions – some which took more effort to hold than others. They were soft and smooth against my fingers.

And there was something else – long strands of something that was soft and smooth in a whole different way. 'Hair'. Lots of it, all a yellowish sort of color called 'blond'; all pulled back at the back of my head and streaming behind me at a very long length. I combed my fingers through the stuff at the front of my head, which wasn't bunched with the rest of it, and was shorter. I liked the feel of it gliding over my hands when I pulled them away.

My hands touched along the rest of my body, as well. My chest, down over my stomach, and my legs. Every bit of me was just as amazing as the rest.

When I bothered to look at my surroundings again, the first thing that caught my eye was something else that moved. I was startled by it. Something in my chest pounded quickly.

What I saw was a form that looked similar to what I felt mine to be, except this one had shorter, violet hair. He was doing the same thing I was just a moment ago.

I wanted him to realize I was there – this other form. I wanted to touch him, too, and see what he felt like in comparison to me. My lips parted, and I tried to figure out how sound worked. My mouth formed words, but I couldn't hear them.

Then he saw me. He looked curiously at me, moving slowly closer. "Wow..." he said. His hand moved toward my face and I flinched away. He pulled his hand back quickly, obviously taken by surprise by my rejection.

But it wasn't a rejection – just an impulse. One of the things I had yet to figure out how to control.

I tried to speak again. "Who... are you?" I breathed, still not able to find the sound I wanted.

He puzzled over this for a moment, and a look that I recognized to be confusion flitted across his face. "I'm... Dark..." he said. "Who are you?"

That hadn't occurred to me before. I didn't know. But then a voice inside of me said something. It wasn't exactly a thought, but there was something inside of my mind that was telling me something. _Krad_, it said.

"I'm... Krad..." I said, in the same uncertain way that Dark had.

I reached out and touched his cheek. Dark didn't flinch away from me. He just sat still, wondering at the feel of my fingers on his skin. "Cold..." he said. "Your hands are cold..."

I looked at his eyes. They were a similar color to his hair; a deep violet, getting darker until they were black in the center. I studied the rest of his face, too. And then I saw his lips. They looked as wonderful as mine felt. I touched my fingers to his lips to see if they felt like mine, too, but then he moved away.

I snatched my hand back, looking down at my legs again.

But then Dark put his hand under my chin, tilting my head up toward him again. He touched my lips in the same amazed way that I had touched his.

I reached my hand out again to touch his face again, trailing my hand down his neck and over his collarbone, and then pressed my palm flat against his chest. "You're... warm..." I told him, finally mastering sound. My throat vibrated a little when I spoke – that came with making the sound.

Dark's lips stretched into a new expression. A 'smile'.

I turned my attention back to Dark's chest. There was a thumping inside it, just like there was in mine. "Feel mine," I said, turning my gaze back to his face.

Dark looked confused, and the smile faded.

"My heart," I told him, moving his hand from my face to my chest. "Feel my heart."

I waited for a while, hoping for a response. "I feel it," he said. "Can you feel mine?"

"Yes," I replied, finding a smile of my own.

Dark leaned closer to me, then. "I like the feel of your lips, too," he told me.

"I like yours," I agreed.

The most amazing thing happened, then.

Dark tilted is head ever-so-slightly to one side, and his lips touched mine.


	3. Chapter 2

_**Perfect Enemy**_

...Second Part: Dark...

It was a 'kiss'. The word registered somewhere in my mind, in that moment when I pressed my lips against his.

The sensation of it was wonderful. It was simple, but it had the most alluring and calming feeling to it. The soft skin of our faces barely touching. Our hands still pressed against each other's chest, feeling each heartbeat; each breath.

But another sensation soon washed over me. There was something within me – a tingling feeling throughout my whole body. 'Pins and Needles' came to mind.

I felt my consciousness retreating, like I was stuck in a state that was sort of... 'dream-like'.

I heard a sound, then. It was loud and harsh, without the forming of words. It was coming from my body, I realized, but I certainly hadn't made the noise. My body was standing up, too, backing away from Krad – but those movements weren't controlled by me, either.

_What's going on!?_ I shouted, protesting the movements. I heard myself speak, but the words didn't go through my body. The lips didn't move; the recently familiar vibration or rush of air in my throat weren't there. My speech sounded to me more like a thought – but I hadn't been thinking it! _Krad!_ I called to him, but he didn't hear me.

"Hikari! What have you done!?" the other voice accused – the same one which had made the startling sound before; the one that was from my body, yet not mine.

I watched as Krad's form shifted into a new appearance. His hair got shorter and more bluish, and his eyes turned from their beautiful, brash gold to a watery blue.

"What have _I_ done!?" he shouted, in a tone similar to what could have been 'disbelief'.

This was not Krad's voice, just as the voice that seemed to come from my body wasn't right. I hadn't heard much of Krad's voice, but I knew for certain that this was not it.

He threw his arms out to the sides. "_I_ have done nothing but _create_! I was trying to bring _life_ into something that had none, and you – _you_ had to come and _mess it all up_!!"

This new Krad was furious at me. At the word 'you' he stepped closer, jabbing his finger at me.

I didn't do anything! I objected, confused.

"Shut up, Dark! He's not talking to you!" the other voice snapped.

I shrank back – my body didn't move, but somehow I did. I felt the muscles in my shoulders react that way instinctively, but I was something else... Some other form in my mind, now.

"Don't yell at him like that!" the form this other voice called 'Hikari' scolded him. I couldn't get over the notion he was staring directly at me when he said it. "He could very well be a part of _Kokuyoku_!"

"I don't care _what_ he is – I'm stuck with him, now! And it's _your fault_!"

"Stop blaming me for your issues, Niwa!" the Hikari argued. "You wanted to _steal _my art, did you not!? Well, now you have it – and it lives inside you as your _curse_! I hope it serves you well!!" he shouted, voice getting louder as he went on.

A sense of anger was all around me. And then my body was turning and trudging away in a furious silence that also didn't belong to me.

_What about Krad?_ I wondered. _Where's Krad?_


	4. Chapter 3

_**Perfect Enemy**_

...Third Part: Krad...

_When will I see Dark again?_ I wondered often. _Where did he go?_

But Hikari never answered me, always steering me away from the subject or ignoring me altogether. He was painfully evasive about Dark, and I began to worry.

A violinist played on the street corner, a soft, content sound that sweltered out into the air. It calmed me a little, but any chance that I had of forgetting my concern completely was crushed by Hikari walking over to the window and closing it with a loud _bang_. I watched the musician look up at the interruption with contempt before resuming his playing with more clipped movements than before.

I sighed as Hikari walked away from the window, taking up a blank canvas from a small array leaning against the wall and setting it on the easel, first upright and then turning it on its side before he shuffled around the room in search of his paintbrushes.

In the odd little realm within our minds, I sat cross-legged, propping my elbow on my thigh and my chin on the heel of my hand. _What are you doing?_ I asked. I wasn't really as curious as I normally would be, but it was a shortly-developed habit to ask anyway.

"I'm going to paint," Hikari said simply.

He found his brushes and picked through his paint assortment, looking for inspirational colors. He didn't know exactly what he aimed to make, yet.

Taking one of the larger brushes, Hikari mixed together a sort of dusky green color and proceeded to swipe the color across the white of the canvas in what looked to be no pattern or shape in particular. I watched the movement the color made as it appeared, imagining what it would feel like to create something like it. The strokes reminded me of the fluid, consistent movements of the violinist. The colors made a kind of music or feeling on the canvas, just as the notes of an instrument could create pictures in my mind.

_Hikari?_

"Yes?"

_Is music an art, too? Like painting? _If anyone would know such things, I supposed it would be the Hikari.

Blue was being added to the picture. Then he paused for a moment to think. "It can be," he considered. "If you can do it right, music is an art form."

_And writing? Is that art, too? _I wondered. The same movements were included in text, as well as painting or playing the violin. That swishing motion of a person's arm. It seemed a reasonable connection.

"Art can be just about anything, if you view it as such," he told me. "Now stop bothering me with silly questions, please," he added, blending in some pale orange here and there. "I'm trying to concentrate."

I closed my mouth and ran a hand back through my hair. Then I pulled a section of it over my shoulder to examine it. 'Blond'. Light and smooth, like crystallized honey.

I sighed again. What would it feel like to have Dark comb his fingers through my hair? What did his hair feel like? Was it just as silky as it had looked?

_Hikari..._ I whispered.

No response.

_I want to see Dark_, I told him. I didn't have the complete concept of time where I was, but the sun had gone down, and the sky had gotten dark. Then it was light again, dark again, over and over. I didn't remember how many times the cycle had occurred, but it felt like a long time. Too long, I thought. Much too long.

But when I did get a response from Hikari, the answer to all I wanted was a short and decisive '_No_'.

... No?


	5. Chapter 4

_**Perfect Enemy**_

...Fourth Part: Dark...

_What do you mean, 'No'!? _I shouted. _Why not!?_

"I don't want you messing with Hikari, and he probably doesn't want Krad anywhere around me. Sorry, Dark, but you're just gonna have to deal with it." His eyebrows were drawn together in a sort of disapproving half-glare.

We had figured out that when Niwa looked in the mirror, I could see him from his reflection if I wanted to, and he could see me. It was almost freedom of a sort. I could look around whatever room he was in.

I wanted to reach through the mirror and hit him, but of course I couldn't so I didn't try. _I want to see Krad!_ I insisted.

"Why are you so determined?" Niwa demanded of me.

I shrugged. I didn't know. I just wanted to. I wanted to just look at him some more, and touch him, because we hadn't been together for very long, yet. He was always on my mind.

"Well, if you don't know, it shouldn't be too important. Just forget about Krad, alright?"

And he walked away from the mirror.

I wasn't going to give up that easily.

. . .

Luckily, I remembered where the Hikari lived. That was where I spent the first few moments of my life. Another good point: I saw Krad walking around inside.

Swooping down to the window – I had wings! Fantastic, broad, black wings! – I taped lightly on the glass. "Krad!" I hissed, tapping again.

He spun around and I saw his eyes widen when he realized who it was outside. I waved cheerily and he came to the window to open it wide for me.

I was about to go into the room through it, but suddenly Krad's hand was on my chest, pushing me away. He shook his head. "I'll come out there," he whispered. "Hikari can't find out you've been here."

I nodded in understanding, then grinned. "Niwa doesn't know, either."

Krad sighed and I helped to pull him outside through the window, clutching him to me until his own wings unfurled from his back. They were just as magnificent as mine, but brilliant white in color.

"Wow," I breathed. I was amazed.

I think Krad blushed. It was hard to really determine in the lack of light outside, but I could have sworn that his face flushed a light rose color for a moment. "What are you doing here?" he asked.

"I wanted to see you," I said. "It's been too long since I met you."

"I agree completely," he told me, touching my arm.

"So, where to?" I asked him, gesturing with my arm to the town around us.

. . .

Krad and I sat on the roof of a house that wasn't anything too fantastic, but far enough away from both the Niwa and Hikari places to be comfortable. I sat with my back against the chimney and Krad pressed close against my side. I wrapped my arm around his waist, and he rested his head on my shoulder.

"I don't know why they won't let us be together," I said. "It doesn't make any sense to me."

"I don't know either," he sighed. "And I suppose it's pointless just to keep wondering. We won't get any reasonable answers from them; you know that."

Krad's hand was draped over my thigh. It felt awkward for some reason.

"Do you think we're... friends?" I wondered randomly, testing out the word. That just didn't quite explain it, though, I thought.

"What?" Krad looked confused. "...Friends?"

"Yeah." I paused for a moment, breaking our locked gazes and looking out at the glittering things that hung in the sky. "I don't know."

We sat in silence for a while.

Then Krad had a question of his own. "Dark... Do you like me?" he asked uncertainly.

I felt a grin pull at my lips again. "Yeah. I do."

And speaking of lips...

I recalled the time when our lips had actually touched. I remembered how insanely good it felt with his mouth against mine; his hand on my chest.

"Krad, look up," I told him in a whisper.

He did, with a puzzled expression, and I kissed him a second time. Krad stiffened a little in surprise, but almost immediately after, I felt his body melt again in my embrace. His fingers caressed my face, his skin soft and smooth and beautiful against my cheek. Even though I had only existed for maybe a few weeks, I had a pretty good idea of what perfection was. I was kissing it.

Shifting slightly so that I was facing toward him a little more, I threaded my fingers through his hair, pulling him back away from me so that I could catch my breath.

"Wow," he whispered.

I nodded in agreement.

And then, sliding his hand around the back of my neck, he pulled me in for another kiss, swiping his tongue across my bottom lip.

Not even the end of the world couldn't keep us apart after that.


	6. Chapter 5

_**Perfect Enemy**_

...Fifth Part: Krad...

Dark and I met every night, just to be together under the stars. We had found our first obsession: kissing. And the Niwa and Hikari never suspected a thing – or at least if they did, they didn't say anything.

And then one night, Dark didn't show up. I didn't know where Niwa lived, so I didn't go looking for him, but all the while I waited, there was a knot in my chest that wouldn't go away, and the feeling only caused more anxiety.

Finally concluding that he wouldn't be coming at all, I slumped against a wall, crossing my arms poutily and propping them on top of my knees, which I pulled in closer to my chest. I felt cold and mildly depressed. I figured that Niwa was probably out late and Dark wasn't able to sneak away to see me, in that case, but there was a more unreasonable piece of me that thought, for some reason, he just didn't want to anymore.

I glanced over to the studio part of the room, staring for a while at a disarray of several papers across the top of a table. I wondered suddenly if any of them were blank.

I wanted to try my hand at drawing.

Getting up and wandering over there, I shuffled carefully through the thin white sheets until I found on completely void of Hikari's many planning sketches. Next, I located a pencil and sat back down on the floor where I had been before, using a book as a surface to put the paper on so it would be easier to draw.

I knew instantly what I wanted to sketch.

It wouldn't be too hard, I thought, to draw something you knew so completely. Every dimension, proportion, every soft curve and hard feature. My hands had their own kind of memory, creating in a flat image what they knew to be in real life.

I drew Dark.

. . .

The next night, Dark appeared again, making my heart leap when I heard the familiar tap on the window.

"Dark!" I exclaimed, hastily flinging the window open. "I almost thought you weren't going to come see me anymore. What happened to you?"

Grinning in that crooked way that was known as a smirk, he pulled me outside, not giving me the chance to get my wings out, and carrying me up to the nearest rooftop to give me his excitement-filled explanation.

"I was out thieving last night," he told me. "It was awesome! Niwa does this sort of thing all the time, apparently."

"Really?" I wondered. "Don't you think... you shouldn't be stealing things, though? Isn't that what got us stuck the way we are?"

Dark shrugged. "But it's so fun!" he insisted. "There's just this... adrenaline rush... that you get from it; the feeling that you could get caught at any given second, and then the thrill of getting away with it right under their noses. And besides..." he added, grabbing me around the waist, pulling me against him, and looking into my eyes with that heart-stopping, deep violet gaze. "...I like you the way you are."

"You... you know that's not what I mean," I spluttered, feeling my face heat up considerably. "I meant how we're stuck in the Niwa's and Hikari's bodies."

Dark touched his forehead against mine and the tips of our noses. "Don't worry about them," he told me flippantly. "We can work around that issue."

I kissed his cheek briefly before pulling away from him and looking out at the sleeping town around us. "Sometimes I wonder about them," I worried, crossing my arms over my chest. "Hikari's been awfully quiet lately. He hasn't ever asked me why I've suddenly stopped begging to see you –"

"Maybe he's just glad he – supposedly – doesn't have to worry about it anymore," Dark suggested. "Niwa's been the same way."

I shook my head, thinking. "I don't think that's it, though. Hikari isn't that type of person..."

"Or you _thought_ he wasn't," Dark said, trying to end the subject. He came up behind me and wrapped his arm around my shoulder, resting his hand on my chest. "You could be wrong."

Leaning back against Dark, I closed my eyes. "Perhaps..."


	7. Chapter 6

_**Perfect Enemy**_

...Sixth Part: Krad...

"Krad... What is this?" Hikari asked me in a slow, threatening voice, pulling me from my own thoughts.

_What's what...?_ I turned my attention to whatever it was that Hikari was so tense about. When I saw it, I froze instantly, eyes wide.

He had found my drawing.

"Answer me, Krad," he demanded.

_It's..._ I stammered, not knowing exactly how to explain it. This could ruin everything for the two of us, Dark and I. Hikari had probably already come to some conclusions.

"It's Dark." I flinched at the way he said Dark's name. The sound was sharp, practically _dripping_ with his anger.

_Yes... it is..._

"Why?" One word, short and powerful. I felt like I could physically shrink from the level of disdain in him.

"I... wanted to see if I could draw," I said, "...like you."

"But why did you draw _Dark_!?" he snapped.

There would be no way out of this. _I..._ But I couldn't tell him about us. I didn't want to betray our connection.

And suddenly, Hikari started laughing. He was going completely hysterical. "No..." he said. "No way..." and kept laughing.

I gave a small yelp when he tore the page in half. To make it worse, he tore those pieces in half, and then the several pieces after that. It was completely destroyed, and he threw what sad heap was left of my sketch in the trash.

He didn't say anything more about it after that. He went back to being quiet about Dark – all of it. Not a word.


	8. Chapter 7

_**Perfect Enemy**_

...Seventh Part: Dark...

Niwa had it figured out. I don't know how he did, but he found out about me and Krad. After a time of being humiliated by his gagging from my remembered sensation of kissing my counterpart, I showed him thoughts of Krad that I'd never even told Krad about, just out of spite.

That was probably a bad idea.

Niwa was seriously mad at me. _What were you thinking!?_ he yelled at me. _I told you, I want you to have _nothing _to do with him!!_

"Well, I don't care what you want!" I shot back at him. "_I _want Krad, and there's nothing you can do to stop me from seeing him!"

Niwa's dark laugher made me doubt what I had just said, a little bit. _Is that a challenge, Dark?_

"No..." I began to feel that odd sensation that I only got when Niwa and I were trading places, and I began to panic, knowing exactly what the creep planned to do. _NO!_ I shouted. _You can't do this!_ He was still in my form.

"Watch me," he said, and took off into the night, using my wings. He was heading straight for Hikari's place.

. . .

I watched in panic-stricken silence as Niwa slid the window open and peered inside the familiar room.

Krad was there, of course, waiting for me to show up as usual. "Dark!"Just hearing him say my name sent a pleasant shiver down my spine – it happened every single time. But this time it wasn't really me he saw, it was Niwa.

"Hey, Krad," Niwa greeted him, mimicking my voice. He suppressed a disgusted shudder when Krad kissed him.

I thought I was going to die.

_Stop pretending to be me!_ I objected. _What are you planning!? Leave Krad alone!_ I continued to yell at Niwa as he and Krad flew off to our usual spot on some arbitrary rooftop, trying to gain back control of my body so he couldn't do whatever it was he was scheming. _Damnit, Niwa!!_

_Shut up, Dark_, he growled. "Krad, I have something to tell you..."

_What the hell!?_

Krad looked over at him with a puzzled look on his face. "What is it?"

"Well, you see," Niwa said, touching Krad's face much like I would do, "I've suddenly realized..." His hand slid down to Krad's throat then, and he sank down to his knees, pulling Krad down with him.

"Dark... What are you doing...?" Krad covered my hand with his own, and I felt the skin of Krad's chest beneath my fingers as Niwa tugged the first few buttons on Krad' s shirt open.

Niwa leaned in close to Krad's face as if he were going to kiss him. "I've realized," he repeated, avoiding Krad's lips and whispering into his ear, "...you've been a complete waste of my time."

_WHAT!!?_ I promptly began screaming profanities at him. _That's not true!_ I tried to tell Krad. _Don't listen to that jerk! I want to spend all the time in the world with you! You're the most valuable person –_

_He can't hear you_, Niwa pointed out, a cruel smirk crossing his face.

The expression on Krad's face was one of utter shock and disbelief. He opened his mouth to say something, but apparently couldn't get the words out.

Niwa stood and stepped away from him, and my hand burned with magic that I had discovered on my first thieving excursion.

Krad's eyes widened and he scrambled to his feet, backing slowly away. "Dark...!?"

_What are you doing!?Stop it!!_

"I suppose Hikari warned you about me, didn't he?" Niwa said smoothly, letting the magic accumulate even more.

"What are you talking about?" Krad whispered. "Dark, what's wrong with you? What's going on?"

_Enemies, Dark_, was the only explanation I was given.

Krad got no explanation – just a violent and inescapable blast of violet magic.

_KRAD!!_


	9. Chapter 8

_**Perfect Enemy**_

...Eighth Part: Krad...

I was too stunned to scream as the blast hit me. I was knocked against the house's chimney, hard enough to restrict my breath for a while. As I struggled to breathe, I was hit again. Each blow felt like a knife plunging into my chest, even if I wasn't directly wounded there.

"Why are you doing this!?" I shouted, feeling my throat tighten with the pain in my chest and my voice faltered. I dodged another attack, just barely making it out of the way in time. "Stop it!! Dark..."

Something in me jolted, and my vision began to blur. The odd shudder happened again, and again, and it wouldn't stop. It threatened to turn into some kind of sound, but I wouldn't let it. I jumped out of the path of another dangerous violet flash, losing my footing and slipping over the edge of the building. I managed to grip the edge with one hand before falling to the ground, and hung there, still confused and afraid, and fighting off the sobs.

Dark came to tower over me, looking down at me with an altered version of his familiar smirk – one that looked more sinister; mocking.

_What did I tell you!?_ Hikari's voice invaded my head. _I told you to stay away from Dark, didn't I? You completely went against me, and now look at the mess you've gotten yourself into!_

The wetness that was blurring my vision spilled from my eyes, streaking down my face, one drop at a time. Tears.

_Fight back at him_, Hikari commanded me. _Use your own magic!_

_But..._ I was going to protest.

'_But' what? Don't tell me you won't fight back because you don't want to hurt him! That's completely absurd!_

"I thought..." I whispered, "...people don't hurt the ones they love..."

I loved Dark.

_Then he obviously doesn't love you_, Hikari pointed out, at the same time Dark knelt down closer to me and snickered, "I _never_ loved you."

My eyes widened, and the pain in my chest got at least eleven times worse. "But you said..." Maybe I should just let go. I wondered if the fall would be enough to kill me.

"I lied," Dark said simply. "And you were gullible enough to believe me."

Before I could let my fingers slip, I felt my wings emerge from my back and suddenly I wasn't myself, anymore. Hikari was.

My heart was shattered. Pulling my knees in close to my chest, I rested my forehead on them, raking my hands through my hair. I didn't fight back the cries anymore. They came out as an odd whine or moan – almost a scream – cut short by the sobs. Tears streamed down my face, leaving itchy, salty paths on my skin.

_Why are you doing this to me, Dark?_ I whimpered. _What did I do?_

I wanted – needed – someone to cry to; someone who would hold me and listen and tell me it would all work out, but the only person I could think of was Dark, himself. Despite what he was doing to me, all I wanted was him. I wanted him to wrap his arms around me. I wanted to hold him to me tightly and bury my face in his chest until the crying stopped.

But he continued to hurt me, continued to attack me, and even though it was Hikari who was fighting with him, now, he was still in my form, and it still hurt. Everything hurt.

_Quit your blubbering, Krad. You're distracting me. Do you want to get us both killed!?_

I was about to scream something vulgar at him – or just scream – but he cut me off before I could.

_On second thought, don't answer that._

There was absolutely no sympathy.

I felt completely and utterly alone.

I wrapped my arms around myself, trying to pull myself together. Without Dark, I was really the only person I had to turn to. Even with Hikari, I was alone. I was his creation, but that seemed to mean little. Because I had powers, I was something that could be exploited, but Dark and I were an imperfect thing. A failure. And I was disregarded.

Well, fine. If that's how it has to be...

Somehow finding the strength, I forced my way to domination, regaining control of my body and violently shoving Hikari to the back of my mind, keeping him there.

I scrubbed the tearstains off of my face with my sleeve and turned to Dark, glaring hard at him with all the pain of my betrayal. "There was nothing in the world I wanted more than you, Dark," I said softly.

Brilliant gold magic accumulated in my hands.


	10. Chapter 9

_**Perfect Enemy**_

...Ninth Part: Dark...

_Krad..._

The look in his eyes was unbearable. There wasn't just one emotion there – there were several. Sadness, betrayal, longing. He was still wondering why this was happening. The look hit me like a physical attack. The ache was so horrible, like nothing I had ever felt before.

_It's not me..._

I didn't lie about loving him. He wasn't a waste of my time. I wanted to reach out to him, now. I wanted to pull him into my embrace and make him understand. None of this was right.

Our lives were being destroyed.

And now Krad was fighting back. The glare of the magic building up in his hands seemed to reflect everything he felt. It was painful to look at.

_Krad, don't... I do love you. I love you forever..._

But he couldn't hear me. There was a blinding explosion of golden light – painful, powerful light that had no hope of being dodged – and Niwa was thrown off of the building, plummeting to the street below. And before we lost consciousness, I heard Krad's voice, screaming garbled nothing at me and the sound faded to sobbing. It tore at my heart, that sound. I forgot all the pain of the several broken bones in my body. My chest ached horribly, and that was the last thing I felt before slipping under.


	11. Chapter 10

_**Perfect Enemy**_

...Tenth Part: Krad...

I didn't care what I destroyed, as long as _something_ was obliterated. I wanted everything to hurt as much as I did. I wanted the whole world to suffer with me, so I wouldn't have to be the only one. I wouldn't have to be alone. I didn't want to be alone.

_Now, what have you learned from all this, Krad?_ the Hikari said eventually. His voice was much calmer than I thought it should be. Too satisfied with what had happened. I wanted to get away from that voice – that whole presence.

After a long while, I forced myself to say, _I never should have trusted Dark_.

_Exactly_.

_But he said that he loved me!_ I objected, punching my fist through a brick wall. My hand withdrew bloody and battered, and probably broken here and there, but I couldn't have cared less. _That's more than _you've _ever done_, I accused.

_But I haven't deceived you, either_, he pointed out.

"I don't care!" I snarled aloud. _I don't care what you have and have not done. I want you gone! I want you and the Niwa both gone, and for you to leave Dark and I be!_

_He doesn't want you anymore_, the Hikari reminded me.

"SHUT UP!"

_Just accept it and move on._

"NO!"

_Krad, be reasonable._

"LEAVE! ME! ALONE!!" I was beyond shouting and screaming at this point. My voice was low, and almost calm, but it had even more ferocity in it than volume could achieve. It was a voice that belonged to some kind of predator.

Hikari finally stopped taunting me.

The tears were going to start up all over again, I could feel it coming. I clutched at my stomach and my chest in some ludicrous attempt to physically pull the hurt away, and just stood still where I was, letting my vision blur. "Why?" I asked myself, over and over again. "Why...!?" I began to shudder, and gripped my forearms tightly in another vain effort to steady myself. It was all too much for me to handle. I fell to my knees, and bent over until my forehead rested on the ground. I felt positively sick. "Dark..." I whined, rather pitifully. Despite what had just happened, he was the only thing I could think about – just him, wrapping his arms around me and telling me we would figure it all out. We would be together always, because he belonged to me, and I to him. We were one and the same, and we were in love. Two halves of a whole that deserved to be together.

At least... that was what I was led to believe...

"DARK, YOU BASTARD!!" I screamed, as loud as my dry throat and exhausted lungs could manage.

And then, of course, it began to rain.

I decided it, then.

Maybe I hate you...


	12. Chapter 11

_**Perfect Enemy**_

...Eleventh Part: Dark...

Miraculously, most of the critical bones healed. Niwa was still unconscious, as far as I knew, so I got up and went to find Krad. It was pouring rain, now, and I could just picture him, falling to pieces and drenched and cold and angry, curled up in a corner somewhere, trying to wait out the storms.

"Krad?" I called softly, spitting some blood from my mouth out onto the sidewalk. "Krad! Listen to me! That wasn't me, back there. I would never..."

I wandered through half the town, and my leg was beginning to fail me. I guessed there was another broken bone in there somewhere. I tried to ignore it, continuing my search, but it stopped cooperating with me altogether, and I tripped over my own feet, earning myself a face-full of mud.

Tears of frustration melded with the rain as I began to crawl away from the mud puddle I'd fallen in. I was bleeding everywhere and couldn't figure out which spot was the worst. My hands were all scraped up, now, from trying to catch myself, and I had twisted my stupid leg, but I heaved myself up again, balancing on my good leg with the aid of a wall for a while before limping away stubbornly. I was going to find Krad and explain if it cost me my life.

"Krad!" I called for him again. "Krad, where are you!? I need to talk to you! Come on..." I sighed, nearly defeated.

And then there he was, just like that. He'd come out of virtually nowhere at all, and was standing in front of me. I was about to say his name again; reach out to him, but with the coldest, most stoic look on his face, he smacked me across the face, sending me off balance and toppling over into another puddle.

I resisted rubbing my stinging cheek and tried to stand again, but he just proceeded to shove me back down with his foot, keeping it pressed down on my chest, pinning me to the ground.

"Let me explain," I said quietly, smearing some mud off of his shoe absently.

Krad shook his head. "Too late..." he paused for a long moment, like he couldn't manage to get my name dislodged from his throat. "I don't want to hear it anymore."

I suddenly was able to look past the fact that it was him, the perfectly beautiful man, and I began to notice all the damage. His hair was a tangled, drenched mess, he had a bruise that crept over almost half of his face, and his hand looked mangled, to name just a few things. I watched the still-flowing blood drip to the ground or seep into his white clothes, and it pulled at my heart, prodding my chest with little knives.

"You're not even sorry, are you?" he whispered. There was a slight change in his face as his eyebrows drew together a little. "Was _all_ of it a lie?"

"No!" I objected. How could he think that? "Krad –"

He looked to the side for a moment, squeezing his eyes shut and letting his face twist up in pain for just a moment before forcing the features smooth again. He looked back down at me, and I wished that he could see my tears. I wanted to prove to him that Niwa had hurt me as well.

"I still –"

"Don't," he interrupted me. "Maybe they were right," he mumbled. "We just can't..."

I shoved his foot off of me and tried to get up, reaching out for him, but he backed away from my touch, almost like he was afraid of me. I raked my hands through my wet hair once and looked at him disbelievingly. "No –"

"I don't want to get hurt anymore," he murmured, his eyes unnaturally blank. "I don't think I can..."

"It wasn't –"

"That's it..." he refused to say my name again. It was like a dagger to him. He glared at me suddenly, straightening up with a slight wince. "We're enemies," he growled. "Just like they said we were meant to be. I hope you're happy."

I shook my head – it was all I could do. I was too stunned to speak. Just hear me out! I wanted to make him listen; pull him into my arms and keep him in my embrace until he could see reason. I wanted to touch his hair, his body, his lips. Please don't let it be over. We can't be enemies. We can't. We can't!

And then he was gone.

It was a good hour or so before I could move again. At that point, I was as confused and pissed off and depressed as I'd never been. It was such a magnified emotion that I had trouble figuring out how to express it. Nothing would be enough.

"DAMNIT, KRAD!" I screamed.

Fine. If you want it that way, then that's how it'll be. You'll only get hurt worse. And stop blaming me. It's your own damn fault, now.

Not mine.

Not even Niwa's.

... Maybe I hate you.


	13. Part II

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_**Part II**_

_**Friend or Foe**_

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	14. Chapter 12

_**Perfect Enemy**_

...Twelfth Part: Dark...

"A... fortune teller?" Daisuke asked, puzzled.

"Read more," Emiko instructed, gesturing at the newspaper article she'd just handed him.

Daisuke studied the paper for a few moments longer, and his eyes lit up with sudden understanding. "Oh! It's an artwork!"

_Duh_, I said snidely.

"...I'm going to have to go steal it tonight, aren't I?" Daisuke sighed. "But I've got a date with Riku!" he objected.

Emiko looked surprised. "Really? You do?"

"Mom! I told you about it a few days ago," Daisuke reminded her. "Don't tell me you forgot! Can't I steal it tomorrow instead?"

"Sorry sweetie," Emiko apologized, directing her son's attention to the TV in the other room. "I've already sent out the warning letter."

I couldn't help but laugh. _Tough luck, Daisuke. Looks like you're going to have to cancel your date – or maybe I'll show up for you._

_Dark!!_ Daisuke protested on his way up the stairs to his bedroom.

_What? I like Riku, too_, I pointed out.

Daisuke sighed heavily and plopped down on the window seat. _She doesn't like you, though_...

I didn't have anything to say to that. That seemed to be my problem, every time I showed up. I had fans, sure, but I could never really be loved. Not like Daisuke and Riku loved each other. Not like Kosuke and Emiko loved each other. And that was the only thing more that I _really_ wanted.

That was the only hole in my life that just couldn't stay filled...


	15. Chapter 13

_**Perfect Enemy**_

...Thirteenth Part: Dark...

I walked through the guards easily, like every other time I'd stolen something. These people somehow never ceased to be funny – they were so stupid; so easy to trick. And the security systems were just as futile. A few quick taps, and I could get by those, too.

When I reached the room I was looking for, it was eerily desolate. All the halls were empty. There wasn't a single sound to be heard.

"It's almost creepy," I muttered, smiling slightly anyway. So this was either going to be incredibly easy, or it would get pretty interesting later. Both options I didn't really mind. I could use a challenge now and then. There was that familiar adrenaline rush just thinking about it.

I pushed open the door and stepped into the room – no traps on the floor. I scanned the room for any other possible threats. There was nothing; nothing there except for the display cases scattered around the room, and the particular artwork I was looking for right in the center of it all.

The _Fortune Teller_ was simply a crystal ball. Very cliché, very typical. There wasn't really anything too spectacular about it. The only thing that could be considered even remotely intriguing was the fact that the orb was so clear that if you only glanced at it, you could mistake it for not being there at all.

Well, not it really wouldn't be there. I snatched it out of its case with no resulting alarms triggered. It was almost too easy. Either I was getting too good or something was up.

Then I thought I saw something in the artwork. An image that I thought I should recognize, but my mind didn't have time to process what it really was, because as soon as I turned my attention to it, the image had disappeared.

Puzzling over that glimpse and the overall quietness of the museum, I made my exit.


End file.
